Code Red
by tothepointe
Summary: A cynical nurse with a quirk moves to Shreveport and quickly finds herself falling into the scheming hands of a Mr Eric Northman.
1. Chapter 1

**I've rewritten the first chapter and will work on the second tonight to bring more detail to the story. Thank you everyone for your reviews.**

I ran my hands through my curly brown hair as I felt the humid air hit me as I walked through the ER doors. I still couldn't believe how hot and sticky the weather was here in Louisiana. Los Angeles was hot in the summer but usually about midnight it cooled down and the crisp night air was a welcome respite after a long crazy night. Not so here in Shreveport where the only promise you got at the end of the was a sleepless sweaty night.

"You working tomorrow Torrance?" My favorite ER tech called out as I walked off towards the parking lot.

"When am I not?" I threw back jokingly over my shoulder feeling a smile spread over my face. I worked way too hard and way too many hours but I loved my new team. They were a refreshing change and well worth the cross-country move.

I had moved here on an impulse. Why Louisiana I don't know. I just felt drawn here somehow and when the recruiter called I said yes instantly

Good experienced nurses were in demand after Katrina and the sign on bonus they offered me to take on this position was too tempting and I was tired of the Los Angeles lifestyle. People there were rude and full of their own self-importance. I wanted to live somewhere people where people actually still cared about each other rather than viewing friends and colleagues as a way to get ahead. I thought working in an ER down south would be a nice change of pace.

Well I was half right. Southern hospitality was in full swing here for the most part. A nice and quiet emergency room? Not so much. The County hospital here suffered the same problems as the inner city hospital I worked at in LA.

Less gunshots though, well kind of. Less intentional gunshots I guess. Same frequent flyer drug seekers who were always good for a laugh even though it got tiring day after day. Of course since the fangs came out of the closet we mostly saw them only at night so that made the night shift a little bearable. I loved working nights. I would turn up to

People think I'm a saint being an ER nurse. Sometimes it feels like it couldn't be further from the truth over the years I've become cynical. I'm not the wide eye idealist girl I was when I started nursing school. I like the cynical me better. I see life for what it really is rather than poetry we are spoon fed from an early age. I've learned to embrace the uncertainty of death and life and to have faith that the universe would unfold as it should.

I think a lot of that has to do with my quirk. I call myself an empath. I feel other people's emotions. For years I told myself I was really good reading peoples expressions and body language but deep down I knew that wasn't it. It was more than that. I felt what other people it affected me. For years I thought I was going slowly crazy. It took talking to patients in the psych ward for me to realize that this wasn't a curse but a gift. It took an insight into the minds of the insane to make me sane.

To say my ability makes me more effective at what I do is an understatement. It helps me always remember that we are fighting for someone's life. Sure we can an overwhelming number of worried well and malingerer's here but everyone arrives at the ER because they have come to end of their ability to cope with the situation whether that is a severed limb or not being able to sleep through the night knowing whether your cold is a really a cold or swine flu.

My ability makes it hard to keep a stable relationship but not for the reason you would think. The closer I get to someone the less I am able to read him or her and that lack of control frightens me and I run. I always run. That's why I'm here.

I'm walking across the parking lot heading towards my little red mini convertible a throwback from my former Los Angeles life. I inwardly groan as I see a scuffle occurring over by my car. I'm too far away from the hospital to just call security over. Obligated I run over to huddle.

The arid smell of burning flesh hits my nose. That's the kind of smell you never forget it imprints itself into your brain and never lets got. It reminds me of many horrific things. I can't not help as much as I would love to have just jumped into my car and sped off into the night.

Arriving at the location I am surprised see two of my "favorite' drug seekers who I kicked out earlier in the evening for trying to scam drugs out of the fresh faced residents again. They are struggling to subdue a vamp. It doesn't take much though to what they are up to.

Ugh Drainers…

I try and claw the taller scrawnier man from behind. For someone who was writhing in pain on one of my gurneys only a few hours ago with supposedly the "worst headache of his life" he sure was scrappy.

"Get the fuck off me you skanky bitch"

He grabbed my throat and was squeezing so hard I could hear the blood flowing through my ears. I didn't have time to think I grabbed my trauma scissors out of my scrub pockets and just jammed them straight into his thigh. He shot straight up in shock letting me go at the same time.

"You crazy bitch"

His pudgy sweaty, greasy looking partner just looked at me bug eyed. His mouth dropped open in shock. His eyes darted between his victim and me and I could feel him grappling with the decision to cut and run or stay and claim his prize. He chose the path of survival and grabbed the skinny man and ran.

"Don't bother coming into my ER again. I'll make sure all your pain medication gets squirted down the sink" I yelled after them.

I crouched down and focused my attention back to their victim, peeling the silver off him watching in childish wonder as his wounds healed instantly in front of my eyes.

"I wish every one of patients would heal like that. It would make my life much easier."

He stared back at me with luminous icy blue eyes. I could see in them something I saw in my self. Eyes that have grow hard and weary of the world yet still seek the novelty and new. I wondered which side I would be placed on. Wonder or contempt?

He didn't reply back and just continue to stare. I wanted to look away but I could not. I could feel a slight pulling around my eyes. I could tell he was trying to glamour me. Glamour doesn't work on me. I've chalked it up to fact that I had extra mental skills and figured the barriers I used to block the tidal wave of emotions somehow provide me with some immunity.

He didn't seem surprised by his lack of success though and deep down that worried me.

"What are you?"

"I'm just a nurse"

"I doubt that." His lips curled up into a smile that revealed the tips of his fangs. He was sexy, godlike and frightening all at the same time. He didn't get up though.

"Do you require assistance?"

"Assistance?"

"A ride home?" I internally slapped myself as soon as I said that but it was instinct for me to help though the last thing I needed was to be playing chauffer to a creature that could end me in heartbeat.

"Yes, that would be… appreciated."

I stood up and unlocked my car door with the key fob and waited for him to follow. He remained down on the ground. I cursed under my breath and I moved towards him and began to half lift half shove him into the passenger seat of my car. He barely fit. He must have been at least 6'4" with pale blonde hair that glowed in the moonlight.

We had been traveling along some side streets for about five minutes the GPS guiding me towards the address he gave me. I could see him giving me curious looks out of the corner of my eye. I did my best to ignore it.

"Why do you work there?" He finally spoke up that cool accented voice stirring me up in all the wrong places.

"The hospital?" I wondered where he was going with this.

"Yes. Doesn't it constantly remind you how fragile human life is and you see the worst of humanity on a nightly basis?"

" I guess in some way I do it because despite it all sometimes I get the chance to turn death into life. Isn't that what you live for?" I don't know why I was so honest. There was something about him.

He caught my gaze and tilted his head and I was grateful that the GPS interrupted me to let us know we have arrived at our destination. I looked up at the sign on the building and couldn't help but let out a genuine laugh.

"Fangtasia. The bar with a bite." I turned towards him with a smirk on my face. "You live in bar?"

" In a way."

"Well here you are" I flicked the door locks open and waited patiently for him to make his exit.

"Aren't you going to help me out like a good little nurse?" He had little boy look. I had to bite my lip to avoid laughing. He was pushing an emotion towards me and I was trying not to react to it. I did not need to be falling down that well.

"No. You don't need it. You didn't need it back at the parking lot. I was just humoring the patient"

He quirked his eyebrow up at me.

"Well it seems I am in your debt"

Dear god that was the last thing I needed was for a fang to owe me a favor. I certainly didn't intend to collect on it. And in a blink of an eye he was gone. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I looked down and notice my id badge was gone. Damn it.

As I pulled back out on to the road towards the little motel I was calling home I felt deep down like I had been played. For a fool I do not know but it wasn't a feeling I liked.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok here's the new revised chapter 2. Thank you so much for the reviews. I live to serve.**

I didn't want to get up the next morning but the sun was starting to heat up my bed and the motel room I called home was starting to look depressing. It wasn't that I couldn't afford a better place to live but with working and sleeping there wasn't a lot of time left. I need to start working less overtime 80hr weeks don't leave much free time. I needed a place to call home and soon.

So hauled myself into the shower and just stood under the head allowing the water to pelt me until I felt halfway human. I'm not supermodel stunning but I have a certain witty girl next-door charm. Curly brunette hair, blue eyes that shift slightly depending on what I was wearing. I was on the short side 5'2" fit but curvy. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, slipped on a pair of comfy jeans and fitted t-shirt. I shoved my feet into my trusty clogs and called myself ready. High maintenance I am not.

"Where to live, where to live" I muttered to myself as I popped open my laptop and started googling little towns around Shreveport. I wanted something that was a polar opposite of LA. Somewhere where the neighbors were nosy and you could pop next door to borrow a cup of sugar something I'd only ever seen on TV.

My eye caught on one town about 40 miles away. "Hmmm Bon Temps. Good times" I couldn't help but grin. How could I not love a place like that?

I grabbed my keys and was soon zooming down the interstate. I put the top down on the mini and just enjoyed having the fun on my face and the wind in my hair as clichéd as that was. I didn't care; my convertible was the one fragment of my former life I wasn't going to give up easily. I fiddled around with the radio until I landed on a country station. Might as well get in the mood

It wasn't long before I came to a sign welcoming me to the town. I drove around trying to get a feel to the place. It was like I had stepped into something from a movie set. I was entranced. When the city is the only thing you've ever know the call of the country is irresistible though I'm sure there were a few girls here who would have changed places with me in a minute Lining up for their chance to let the big city chew them up and spit them out. I eventually pulled into the parking lot of Merlotte's to grab some lunch. Maybe somebody there would know of some places or rooms to rent.

I walked into Merlotte's and it was like at first sight. It wasn't anything special to look at but was one of those bars that you could call home. The kind I'd been looking for since 'Cheers' because really sometimes you DO want to go where everyone knows your name and cocktails are $15 with a two drink minimum. The buzz of feelings I got walking through the door was like a warm brown sugar. Comforting and sweet.

I slid into one of the creaky brown leatherette booths that had seen better days but molded to my body like I had sat in this booth everyday for years and started to look through the menu for some of that famous southern soul food. I was looking forward to getting nice and plump.

I looked up as a perky blonde waitress bounded up to my table just oozing hospitality and not just from the smile that was plastered on my face. Her warm and enthusiasm relaxed me and started to think that maybe I should stop hanging around death and misery so much. I might felt a little better.

"Hi I'm Sookie, I'll be your server today. Can I get you started off with anything?" She said with one of those southern belle accents I could listen to all day. She was about the same height and build as I though she had a little more up top and silky blonde hair and this soft velvety brown eyes. I was thinking a good juicy burger might be just the thing for the day and wondered if the cook was good.

"Oh everyone love's Lafayette's burgers. They ask for them by name. Burgers Lafayette"

Hmm that was weird like she knew exactly what I was thinking. I don't know why I was shocked I guess if I can sense people emotions then it's not farfetched that she could read my thoughts.

"You can sense people's emotions?"

I silently nodded. She looked around but she had no other customers and she gestured if she could join me and scooted into the booth across from me. I wouldn't have thought her smile could have gotten any bigger but it did and her eyes were full of excitement and joy that I could feel rolling over of her in waves. You would have thought she had just won the lottery with her current level of excitement.

"I've only ever met somebody like me once in Dallas and he was a telepath like me but you can sense emotions but not thoughts?"

" I consider myself an Empath. That seems to be what they call them in the science fiction shows" I state with a wry grin. I'm not a crazy as I thought.

"Oh your not crazy not by a long shot. Crazy Sookie is what everyone calls me but not to my face but I still hear them."

" Can I try something?" I asked. "I'm not a telepath like you but I always wondered if I could well you know with my mind"

***"Sure"***

***"Oh my goodness it does work. Maybe that's why I felt such a compulsion to move to Louisiana and to try and find a room to rent here"***

" Oh I insist you become my roommate" She gushed. I'm so lonely in my house since Gran died and well Bill's not around all the time" I sensed a little bit of wistful sadness regarding that last statement. I was kind of taken back by her quick offer of a place to live but then I remember this was the south and I probably would have done the same thing just to be able to spend time with someone as flawed as I was,

"Whose Bill? You seem a little sad about the fact he's not around."

"You can sense that? Bill's my boyfriend. He's a vampire so I only get to see at night but it's totally worth it to be able to be around him and not hear his thoughts."

My brows crinkled a little.

" You can't hear Vampire thoughts?" I asked.

Sookie took in a sharp breath

"You can?"

"Yes. It never occurred to me that I couldn't. It's different though they don't feel the way we do. Like their emotions are wrapped in cotton wool or something"

"You haven't told anyone that you can read vampires have you?" She asked with a faint strain of panic in her voice.

" No. You're the first soul I've told. I don't see how anyone could know" Though as soon as I said it I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Ok that it. It's settled your moving into my spare room. If Eric finds out you can well you know he'll want to exploit you." It was stated with an air of certainty.

"Eric?" The pit of my stomach got closer and closer to the floor.

"Yes he's the Sheriff of this area. I work for him sometimes. You haven't run into him have you?"

"No" I quickly lied. Hoping that my gift would block out her probing. I tried to build a wall out of bricks in my mind. That's how I blocked people out. I literally built a wall with my mind. I visualized each brick until the throbbing of emotions was a tolerable level.

She narrowed her eyes at me but she didn't comment on it. We chatted for a little while more and she gave me directions to her house and a spare key. I arranged to drop by in the morning to move what little stuff I had brought with me. I would arrange to send over the stuff I had in storage later.

Walking out of the bar with a full tummy and a lively heart I had to admit so far Bon Temps had lived up to her name.


	3. Chapter 3

**Just a short little transitional chapter. Pam demanded I publish her immediately.**

"Torrance?" I heard a cool bored voice drawl in that lazy way rich people do. I glanced up from my triage desk to see a tall willowy blonde standing behind the glass with blue doe like eyes that didn't quite gel with the mischief that was behind them. She looked like she just stepped out of a page of Town and Country. Crisp belted trench coat with the tell tale plaid peeking out at the edge. Pale luminous skin; definitely a vamp. Well who ever said my job wasn't interesting.

"Yes? What's your emergency?"

" Torrance? Torrance Tustin?" She had my id badge perched between her perfected manicured fingers and was peering at me through the window. "Interesting name" She commented in a tone that would normally be mistaken for contempt if it wasn't for the fact I could feel her amusement oozing through the partition.

"Yes it's my stripper name. Do you need medical assistance" I was trying to avoid getting to the real point of the conversation.

"Hardly" She snorted. " Eric sent me." As if that explains everything.

"So?' I lobbed back.

" He requests your audience at Fangtasia. He wanted to show you his…appreciation for your services rendered. I'm to escort you," She sounded thrilled. Not.

"Sorry. I don't get off work until after your bedtime."

"Eric will not be pleased."

He'll live. Nice 'Choos'." I knew my shoes and was rewarded with a knowing grin.

"Incoming trauma! Multiple MVA's" One of the other nurses stuck her head round the corner to let me know.

'Sorry. I'm going to have to go but if you wish to see a Doctor. Louise can take your vitals for you" I grinned over my shoulder at my student for the week who looked excited at being given such an interesting task. I feel the air breeze past my face and looked back to see her gone. "Guess not" Louise looked crestfallen. Assessing a vamp would have made a good bragging point back in class. " You've got dibs on the next gunshot OK." I was awarding with a brilliant smile. If only everyone was as easy to please as a nursing student


	4. Chapter 4

Another short chapter. I'm trying to publish each scene as I write it. I am aiming for a scene a day.

I finally got off work at about 7:30 in the morning and dawn was just breaking. The sunlight filtered through the clouds creating such breathing beauty that it makes your heart ache to just see it. The sun always reminded me just how I was just a small part of the universe. It kept me humble and it always reminded me that no matter how painful or arduous something was that all things must come to the end. Dusk or dawn will always arrive. No creature mortal or immortal would keep her back and the passage of time will define us all.

I had to shake myself out of a daze. I could have wasted the whole day just looking up and wondering about the universe and my fate.

I had the next few days off and planned to go pack up my stuff and move in Sookie. I was amazed at how the events of the last few days had unfolded. I moved to the country for less excitement and ended up with more. Go figure.

It didn't take me long to pack up what few possessions I had into a few boxes and cram them in my car. Most of my stuff was still in the storage pods. I had jettisoned most of my furniture when I left LA. I just put it out on the curb and it was gone within it hours. Most of it was his anyways and I wanted to get as far away from that train wreck as possible.

Most women spend their whole lives looking for Mr. Right and fill the time with Mr. Right Now. Me I was practical. I was looking for something nice and tame. The good guy that the girl always ends up with at the end of the movie. Who would have known that there was narcissistic rage boiling under the surface?

It was easy for me to buy into the picture of perfection he painted himself as. I had always thought of my self of as flawed, pretty but not beautiful enough to rely on my looks. So when he pointed out the flaws that I always secretly thought were there I believed him. He was trying to help me improve myself so I thought. Turns out he wasn't the only person he was helping out.

How did I become the girl that gets played for the fool? How did I with all my extra senses end up getting my heart trampled on by the one person I thought would spare me from that fate? Maybe it was time for Mr. Wrong.

I drove with the top down on my mini convertible all the way to Sookie's. I was really looking forward to being able to live with someone who understood who I really was. I had only spent half and hour with her but I knew deep down she knew me.

"Oh Shit!"

I had to make a hard turn right onto Hummingbird Lane. I was so absorbed in my own thoughts I almost missed it. I slowly maneuvered my car along the spotty gravel driveway and pulled in front of the slightly dilapidated white house.

The door to the porch flung open as I stepped out of the car and Sookie bounded down the stairs towards me and flung her arms around me in a sisterly hug.

"Oh my god I am so excited to have living with me. It's been so lonely since Bill went to New Orleans for secret vampire business." I had to chuckle at that

"I'm actually really excited too oddly enough. I haven't had a roommate since college"

She beamed at me and beckoned me towards the house and gave me the grand tour of the house. The room she showed me that was mine must have been her childhood bedroom. It had that air of innocent nostalgia with the flowers and the dollhouse in the corner. This wasn't what I had in mind when I was looking for a place to live. It was better this was a home.


	5. Chapter 5

**A little transitional chapter. More Eric coming soon**

I was enjoying my blissful few days off from the hospital and more than that enjoying Sookie's company. She really was a steel magnolia, all sugar and sweetness on the outside but true grit on the inside. She shared me all the details of her business trip to Dallas. By business I mean she was trading her telepathy skills for some I imagine was very hard earned dollars. The vamps I'm sure were getting a bargain but Sookie needed the money. The house while clean and orderly had seen better days and she needed a new driveway badly. I made a mental note if ones of Eric's lackeys came by again to ask him to send the check. Sookie was too full of pride to ask.

I finally got to met Bill when he came over for dinner on Wednesday. I was pulling an overnight shift but didn't have to go in until 11 and spent the day getting ready for Bill's welcome back dinner though I was unsure exactly what she was planning to cook him. Blood orange sorbet?

Bill was everything Sookie described a true southern charm with a reserved nature that hint at his civil war era upbringing. He was on the short side with dark brown hair and brooding eyes. He seemed to dote on Sookie but there was something I could feel underneath the surface that I just couldn't put my finger on but it worried me down the core.

Jessica and I were fast becoming friends. She was bubbly and full of life well I guess I mean death. She was a firecracker permanently stuck in a teenager's body. Sookie had explained how Jessica came to be a vampire and it went unsaid that it was a burden that weighed heavily on her. The way Bill was trying to handle her made me nervous though. He expected her to restrain every vampire impulse that was coursing through her newly changed body. He preached to her the virtues of mainstreaming never stopping to think how long it took him to be able to control himself. This was going to end badly and I made a mental resolve to make time for Jessica.

She spent what seemed like hours gushing with me on the couch about her boyfriend Hoyt. She really didn't realize how beautiful and attractive she was with her milky white skin and flaming red hair. It was probably just as well. Most pretty girls who know they are pretty treat men pretty badly and Hoyt sounded like a really sweet guy. I asked her if he had a friend.

"Oh gosh only Jason y'know Sookie's brother." She giggled

"Ahh I see. Yes I've heard about him. I really don't think I'm his type."

"You've got boobs. Trust me you're his type."

I couldn't stop laughing. I had met Jason and he was sweet and charming but dumber than a box of hammers. I'd be better off trying to shack up with Lafayette. I excused myself to go get changed into my scrubs.

Ever being the gentleman Bill walked me out to the car. Being alone with him I was able to get more clarity to what it was that I was feeling from him and it chilled me to the bone. Sookie was in for a whole pocketful of heartache.

I was just about to open the door to my car when I turned around and faced Bill looking deep into his soul to speak my piece.

"The time in which you have to be honest Bill is rapidly shrinking and once past the trust you will have lost with be irrecoverable."

If I was chilled to the bone before the confirmation I got from his eyes froze both our hearts.

"You won't tell her will you?"

"It's not my secret to tell. Sookie is not as thin skinned as I am in. You're her first love, this may shatter her."

With a heavy heart I climbed into my car and sped off into the night.


End file.
